Prominent leaders of the Sunflower movement yesterday entered not guilty pleas as their trial for storming the legislature began, saying they would face the justice system head-on.
Lin Fei-fan (林飛帆), Chen Wei-ting (陳為廷) and Huang Kuo-chang (黃國昌) made the remarks at the Taipei District Court yesterday.
They face charges related to student-led protesters occupying the Legislative Yuan’s main chamber from March 18 to April 10, 2014, in what became known as the Sunflower movement.
Photo: Lo Pei-der, Taipei Times
The trio were among nine defendants summoned to appear in court yesterday.
Judges reviewed more than 100 minutes of video from March 18 to determine whether the defendants were guilty of inciting others to commit an offense, obstructing an officer in discharge of duties and illegal entry, among other charges.
Prosecutors said there are a total of 21 defendants, with Lin, Chen and Huang among the first of three groups scheduled for court appearances.
Prior to entering the court room, Lin said: “I feel this is a good opportunity to defend ourselves in court and to argue the legitimacy of our actions. We have been consistent in our stance when taking on the justice system: that we will face it head-on and we will not evade any legal responsibility.”
“The Sunflower movement was to rescue Taiwan’s constitutional democracy, which was teetering on the edge of a precipice,” Huang said. “So we had to initiate this civil disobedience action to save it. Under our nation’s new democratic system, this movement has a high degree of legitimacy. So we hope these issues can be deliberated upon during the judicial proceedings of this case.”
He said the protest was precipitated by Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Legislator Chang Ching-chung (張慶忠), who, in violation of legislative procedures, attempted to fast-track the cross-strait service trade agreement through the legislature in 30 seconds on March 17.
“Due to the so-called ‘30-second incident,’ which destroyed Taiwan’s constitutional democracy, the real culprits were Chang Ching-chung and [former president] Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九), and also the party they belonged to,” Huang told reporters.
“We fervently believe we are not guilty [of the charges laid by prosecutors]. The guilty ones are Ma, who trampled upon Taiwan’s democratic system, and Chang, who wrecked the legislature’s checks-and-balance mechanism. Those who stood up with courage against them are not guilty, as they tried to save Taiwan’s democracy and freedom,” he said.
Chen said he was not at liberty to speak about the case, because he is serving at a government agency in lieu of his mandatory military service.
‘TAIWAN-FRIENDLY’: The last time the Web site fact sheet removed the lines on the US not supporting Taiwanese independence was during the Biden administration in 2022 The US Department of State has removed a statement on its Web site that it does not support Taiwanese independence, among changes that the Taiwanese government praised yesterday as supporting Taiwan. The Taiwan-US relations fact sheet, produced by the department’s Bureau of East Asian and Pacific Affairs, previously stated that the US opposes “any unilateral changes to the status quo from either side; we do not support Taiwan independence; and we expect cross-strait differences to be resolved by peaceful means.” In the updated version published on Thursday, the line stating that the US does not support Taiwanese independence had been removed. The updated
‘CORRECT IDENTIFICATION’: Beginning in May, Taiwanese married to Japanese can register their home country as Taiwan in their spouse’s family record, ‘Nikkei Asia’ said The government yesterday thanked Japan for revising rules that would allow Taiwanese nationals married to Japanese citizens to list their home country as “Taiwan” in the official family record database. At present, Taiwanese have to select “China.” Minister of Foreign Affairs Lin Chia-lung (林佳龍) said the new rule, set to be implemented in May, would now “correctly” identify Taiwanese in Japan and help protect their rights, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said in a statement. The statement was released after Nikkei Asia reported the new policy earlier yesterday. The name and nationality of a non-Japanese person marrying a Japanese national is added to the
AT RISK: The council reiterated that people should seriously consider the necessity of visiting China, after Beijing passed 22 guidelines to punish ‘die-hard’ separatists The Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) has since Jan. 1 last year received 65 petitions regarding Taiwanese who were interrogated or detained in China, MAC Minister Chiu Chui-cheng (邱垂正) said yesterday. Fifty-two either went missing or had their personal freedoms restricted, with some put in criminal detention, while 13 were interrogated and temporarily detained, he said in a radio interview. On June 21 last year, China announced 22 guidelines to punish “die-hard Taiwanese independence separatists,” allowing Chinese courts to try people in absentia. The guidelines are uncivilized and inhumane, allowing Beijing to seize assets and issue the death penalty, with no regard for potential
‘UNITED FRONT’ FRONTS: Barring contact with Huaqiao and Jinan universities is needed to stop China targeting Taiwanese students, the education minister said Taiwan has blacklisted two Chinese universities from conducting academic exchange programs in the nation after reports that the institutes are arms of Beijing’s United Front Work Department, Minister of Education Cheng Ying-yao (鄭英耀) said in an exclusive interview with the Chinese-language Liberty Times (the Taipei Times’ sister paper) published yesterday. China’s Huaqiao University in Xiamen and Quanzhou, as well as Jinan University in Guangzhou, which have 600 and 1,500 Taiwanese on their rolls respectively, are under direct control of the Chinese government’s political warfare branch, Cheng said, citing reports by national security officials. A comprehensive ban on Taiwanese institutions collaborating or
RSS